More and more people in the United States are eating meals and snacks in their cars. Not too long ago, only certain vehicles were equipped with cupholders, which were considered luxury items. For cars without cupholders, the owner who wanted a cupholder had to purchase a removable cupholder from the auto parts store. Such a cupholder attached to the inside door panel, where the car window was mounted. Nowadays, however, cupholders are standard features in cars and other vehicles. Thus, the market for removable cupholders has diminished. When it comes to original, factory-installed equipment, there are basically two types of cupholders in vehicles. The first is the standard well-type cupholder 101, which generally consists of one or two cavities 103 molded in a plastic base which is mounted in various areas of the car—in the console between the two front seats, for example. Such well cupholders have sidewalls 104 and bottoms 105 which encapsulate the inserted portion of the cup or other container, as shown in FIG. 1. The standard diameters of such well-type cupholders range from 2.75 inches to 4.0 inches. Some well-type cupholders may have an adjoining compartment 102 for holding various items, such as cassettes, pens, coins, etc.
Another type of installed cupholder is a dashboard disc which is usually mounted in the dashboard 110, and consists of a generally flat support piece 109 which slides in and out of the dashboard 110 and includes one or two circular cut-outs or holes 108 for receiving cups or other cylindrical containers, as shown in FIG. 2. The dashboard disc does not include a well with sides and a bottom for encapsulating the inserted beverage container, but rather consists of holes for receiving the container. The standard diameters of such dashboard disc cupholders range from 2.50 inches to 3.75 inches, and, thus, the dashboard disc cupholder tends to be smaller than the console-well cupholder.
The vehicular cupholders heretofore have been intended solely to hold cups or other beverage or snack food containers. However, as the population consumes more food products in the car (which are not housed in beverage shaped containers), it has become desirable to have a tray for holding such food items in the car. Food trays which make use of cupholders for support have been proposed in the past, but such items have not been adaptable to many cupholders and have been costly and bulky, which has precluded successful and significant market penetration. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,109,580; 6,533,233; 6,732,990; and 6,808,097.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide an economical, convenient tray assembly, which is preferably made of renewable, recyclable and/or biodegradable material, is inexpensive to manufacture, and is compatible with different vehicle cupholders and nearby equipment, such as gearshifis and steering wheels.